Dataset Information

Uncharted digenean diversity in Lake Tanganyika: cryptogonimids (Digenea: Cryptogonimidae) infecting endemic lates perches (Actinopterygii: Latidae).

ABSTRACT:

Background

Lake Tanganyika is considered a biodiversity hotspot with exceptional species richness and level of endemism. Given the global importance of the lake in the field of evolutionary biology, the understudied status of its parasite fauna is surprising with a single digenean species reported to date. Although the most famous group within the lake's fish fauna are cichlids, the pelagic zone is occupied mainly by endemic species of clupeids (Actinopterygii: Clupeidae) and lates perches (Actinopterygii: Latidae, Lates Cuvier), which are an important commercial source for local fisheries. In this study, we focused on the lake's four lates perches and targeted their thus far unexplored endoparasitic digenean fauna.

Methods

A total of 85 lates perches from four localities in Lake Tanganyika were examined. Cryptogonimid digeneans were studied by means of morphological and molecular characterisation. Partial sequences of the nuclear 28S rRNA gene and the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (cox1) gene were sequenced for a representative subset of the specimens recovered. Phylogenetic analyses were conducted at the family level under Bayesian inference.

Results

Our integrative approach revealed the presence of six species within the family Cryptogonimidae Ward, 1917. Three out of the four species of Lates were found to be infected with at least one cryptogonimid species. Two out of the three reported genera are new to science. Low interspecific but high intraspecific phenotypic and genetic diversity was found among Neocladocystis spp. Phylogenetic inference based on partial 28S rDNA sequences revealed a sister group relationship for two of the newly erected genera and their close relatedness to the widely distributed genus Acanthostomum Looss, 1899.

Conclusions

The present study provides the first comprehensive characterisation of the digenean diversity in a fish family from Lake Tanganyika which will serve as a baseline for future explorations of the lake's digenean fauna. Our study highlights the importance of employing an integrative approach for revealing the diversity in this unique host-parasite system.

SUBMITTER: Kmentova N

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7195733 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundUnderstanding the causes of disparities in species diversity across taxonomic groups and regions is a fundamental aim in evolutionary biology. Addressing these questions is difficult because of the need for densely sampled phylogenies and suitable empirical systems.Methodology/principal findingsHere we investigate the cichlid fish radiation of Lake Tanganyika and show that per lineage diversification rates have been more than six times slower than in the species flocks of Lakes Victoria and Malawi. The result holds even at peak periods of diversification in Lake Tanganyika, ruling out the age of the lake as an explanation for slow average rates, and is robust to uncertainties over the calibration of cichlid radiations in geological time. Moreover, Lake Tanganyika lineages, irrespective of different biological characteristics (e.g. sexually dichromatic versus sexually monochromatic clades), have diversified at similar rates, falling within typical estimates across a range of plant and animal clades. For example, the mostly sexually dichromatic haplochromines, which have speciated explosively in Lakes Victoria and Malawi, have displayed modest rates in Lake Tanganyika (where they are called Tropheini).Conclusion/significanceOur results show that either the Lake Tanganyika environment is less conducive for cichlid speciation or the remarkable diversifying abilities of the haplochromines were inhibited by the prior occupancy of older radiations. Although the results indicate a dominant role for the environment in shaping cichlid diversification, differences in the timing of diversification among the Tanganyikan tribes indicate that biological differences were still important for the dynamics of species build-up in the lake. While we cannot resolve the timing of the radiation relative to the origin of the lake, because of the lack of robust geological date calibrations for cichlids, our results are consistent with a scenario that the different clades reflect independent adaptive radiations into different broad niches in the lake.